


A New Journey [Formerly Comfort XI]

by AnnaOnTheMoon



Series: A New Journey [3]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-20 00:57:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12421698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOnTheMoon/pseuds/AnnaOnTheMoon
Summary: This follows on from Comfort X, only takes place immediately after Generations.  Beverly and Jean-Luc need to rebuild their lives.





	A New Journey [Formerly Comfort XI]

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally titled as the epilogue for my Comfort series.

The minute the _Enterprise_ stopped sliding across the ground and people could begin to move, Beverly reached for a tricorder and scanned her abdomen. _Normal.  Thank goodness._   Beverly was pregnant with her and Jean-Luc’s second child, and she was hoping for a girl this time.  Henri was  nearly one-and-a-half- years old and he was the light of his parent’s lives.  Beverly smiled as she recalled the last family day out on the holodeck. Henri was toddling around and Jean-Luc was doting on the boy and on her.  She laughed as she remembered the way Jean-Luc had chased the toddler around picking him up and tossing him into the air as he giggled. Beverly heard the noise of groaning metal and reality came crashing down.  Where was her husband? And more importantly, where was Henri? 

Panic set in.  Beverly was in a Jeffries tube with some of her patients.  The children from the nursery should have been six decks away with the other children, but Beverly wasn’t even sure if there was a six decks away.  She gingerly crawled out of the tube and stood up.  The corridor was filled with dust and lit by the emergency power beacons, giving the air an eerie orange glow.  A Lieutenant  was laying crumpled on the floor and Beverly immediately went for her tricorder and scanned the woman. She was just knocked out.  Beverly adjusted her into the recovery position and moved on.  She needed to get to her son.  She was worried for Jean-Luc, but she also knew he could hopefully take care of himself, and she knew Jean-Luc’s first priority would have been Henri if their positions were reversed.

With the lifts not working, it was going to take Beverly a long time to climb up six decks using the ladders in the tubes.  She wasn’t as young as she was when she had Wesley, and her pregnancy with Henri had been pretty hard on her, requiring 6 weeks of bed rest at the end, and even then, Henri had been born three weeks premature.  But, it was all worth it. She caressed her abdomen.  She was ten weeks along.  She hadn’t even had a chance to tell Jean-Luc the good news.  The message came in from Earth about Robert and Rene -  a tear ran down Beverly’s cheek as she thought of Jean-Luc’s brother and nephew...and Marie, all alone in La Barre.  Beverly vowed to contact the woman over subspace as soon as possible.  She knew what it was like to lose a husband....and in some ways, with Wesley still off with the Traveller, she could sympathise with the loss of a child, too.  Although unlike Rene, there was always the possibility of Wesley returning.

After the news of the fire, Jean-Luc had closed himself off.  He held Henri extra close that night as he put him to bed and kissed Beverly before sitting on the sofa and staring straight ahead.  Beverly knew this wasn’t the right time to tell him about the baby so she just held him and let him cry for his brother and nephew.  Jean-Luc and Henri were now the last of the Picard males -  Wesley too, if he ever came back to Earth as he had changed his name to Picard.  Beverly took a deep breath. “Come on, Baby. Let’s go find your brother.”

###

Jean-Luc stood on the highest outcrop of rock he could find and scanned the barren landscape. He could see for miles, but there was no sign of other people.  He sighed. _Am I destined to live out my days here until I succumb to dehydration?  Perhaps the Nexus wasn’t a bad place after all._ He shook his head.  Life in the Nexus was perfect – too perfect.  He and Beverly were younger and they had four children.  In the Nexus, it was obvious that he and Beverly had married years sooner -  judging from the ages of their children, they must have married a year or two after Jack’s death, or perhaps Jack had never died and Beverly had simply not married him in the first place.  Rene had been in the Nexus too.  Perfect Rene. Sweet Rene.  A tear trailed down Jean-Luc’s face leaving a track in the dirt.  _Rene.  Robert.  I’m..sorry._

Jean-Luc squinted against the horizon and saw a shuttle approaching.  _Friend or foe?  Guess we’ll find out._   To his relief, the shuttle contained Geordi, Worf, and Beverly.   _Beverly!_ Jean-Luc’s heart soared.  If Beverly was there, that hopefully meant Henri was alright, too.  And indeed, he was peeking out from behind Beverly’s leg. _Henri!_   The little boy toddled as fast as his small legs could and threw himself at Jean-Luc’s legs. “Papa, Papa up!!!”  Jean-Luc picked up his son and kissed his cheek, holding him close.  He used his other arm to tug Beverly close and he captured her lips in a kiss.  Worf and Geordi had the decency to turn away to allow the family their reunion.

Back at the _Enterprise_ , Jean-Luc surveyed the situation.  The _USS Farragut_ was on its way, along with several other ships to evacuate the stranded crew members and to recover as much as they could. The _Enterprise_ itself was irreparable, so all they could do was empty it of useful equipment and whatever personal belongings survived.  Jean-Luc  inched and in some places even crawled his way to his and Beverly’s quarters.  Henri had been crying because he didn’t have his bun-bun, a plush bunny that had been given to him by Wesley just after he was born.  Henri had slept with the bunny every night.  Jean-Luc had told Henri if he took a nap, he would find bun-bun for him by the time he woke up.  Looking around their quarters, Jean-Luc worried that perhaps he was going to have to break his promise to the boy. Jean-Luc despaired over the possibility of disappointing his son, but their quarters were in shambles.

 He put the crate down he had carried in with him to place anything worth saving in.  He found the Picard family album,  one of the quilts made by Beverly’s Nana, an unopened bottle of wine  - the last bottle Robert had sent, and a few other sentimental items to Beverly and himself.  Henri’s nursery seemed to have been mostly destroyed, due to its proximity to a window. Jean-Luc had wanted Henri to be able to gaze out at the stars from his cot as they flew through the sky.  The window had broken from the impact and broken glass littered the floor and the cot.

 Jean-Luc spied a little pink ear under a bit of the bulkhead.  A-ha.  bun-bun had been found. Jean-Luc shook out Henri’s blanket and pulled some clothing out of a drawer . He went over to the changing table and gathered everything they would need.  Geordi had managed to get one replicator running to assist immediate needs, and while the need for clean diapers was important, if he could grab some from their quarters, it was one less thing to need to replicate.  Jean-Luc wandered into his and Beverly’s bedroom and added a few more items of clothing to the crate.  He found Beverly’s hairbrush in the debris on the floor and thought she might appreciate it .   Happy with what he had managed to recover, he hefted the crate and made his way back  out of the ship towards his family.

The joy had been short-lived when he placed the bunny in his son’s arm as his wife saw the crate of meagre items. Beverly gave him a watery smile.  “At least we’re _all_ in one piece.”  Jean-Luc nodded and placed his arm around her and Henri.  He picked up the crate and contacted the _Farragut_ to beam them up.  It would take six days to return to Earth.  Jean-Luc and Beverly were planning on taking some leave to stay in La Barre with Marie to help her with funeral arrangements, and Starfleet had graciously agreed to grant them the leave despite wanting to begin the investigation immediately.  Jean-Luc sighed as he gazed out of the window at the planet where the _Enterprise_ would have its final resting place. “Goodbye, old friend.” 

###

Jean-Luc took in the burnt out shell of his childhood home as he, Beverly, and Henri approached.  _From one disaster to another._ Marie came out of their home and rushed towards Beverly, collapsing into a heap of tears.  Jean-Luc shared a look with Beverly. Jean-Luc gently put Henri down on the ground and tugged his sister-in-law into his arms.  He whispered soothing words of French into her ear and brought her away from the main house over towards the small cottage Jean-Luc and Beverly had built.  Jean-Luc didn’t think it wise for Marie to continue to stay in the same place where her husband and son had perished.  At least, not until he could organize for some repairs to get carried out.

The next week was whirlwind between the funeral, organising the repairs, sorting out Robert’s will, and deciding what they would do with the vineyard.  Marie had asked if she could move into the cottage and offered to give Jean-Luc back his childhood home.  She explained that she didn’t think she would be able to live in the house again, even with the repairs (and improvements) underway.  Beverly and Jean-Luc agreed.  They didn’t know how long they would be grounded for with the destruction of the _Enterprise_ and Jean-Luc didn’t even know if he was ever going to be handed command again. Beverly still hadn’t told him about the baby, but she knew she would need to soon.  Having a second baby might impact their decision on their future with Starfleet, too.

Although they both knew there were huge benefits of having their family on board with them, having the _Enterprise_ crash with their son on board had caused Jean-Luc to question if he would want to command a ship again.  He wouldn’t want to leave his wife or child behind, but he started to doubt the safety of raising a family in deep space.  He sighed. _Just one more decision we will need to make._

The repairs on the house were going well.  The architect hired had managed to find the original plans for the house – nearly 500 years old – and had designed a new house that was modern but paid homage to the original.  They were keeping the parts of the building that were still structurally sound.  Most of the lower floor would be new except for the large fireplace, and some of the rooms upstairs would need minor repair. Jean-Luc’s childhood bedroom had surprisingly withstood no damage, and he had decided to give the room to Henri.  Rene’s room had been located right above the fire, and had been destroyed.  The new room would become Wesley’s  if he ever returned to them.  Jean-Luc hadn’t noticed Beverly having a private word with the architect to add a small nursery next to the master bedroom.

Beverly nervously paced the master bedroom that evening.  She and Jean-Luc had given Henri a bath and had put him to bed and now she was waiting for Jean-Luc to join her.  She was going to tell him tonight about the baby. Tomorrow they were leaving Henri with Marie and travelling to Starfleet Headquarters for the inquiry.  Henri would be staying with his aunt for a few days so Beverly and Jean-Luc wouldn’t have to travel back and forth daily.  Beverly glanced at her reflection in the mirror.  Her body was slowly starting to show the soft curves of pregnancy, but they had been so busy lately, she can’t even remember the last time she and Jean-Luc had made love.  Possibly it had been three weeks ago on the _Enterprise._   She frowned  _We’ll have to fix that, too._  

Jean-Luc entered the dim room and drew Beverly into his arms.  He kissed her soundly.  “I’ve missed this.” 

“I have too. Jean-Luc, promise me we won’t ever spend so much time apart again.  I know we were together, but we haven’t exchanged more than a handful of kisses since the crash.....and we haven’t made love since before.”  Jean-Luc frowned. _Has it really been that long?_

“Let’s change that,” he untied the dressing gown Beverly was wearing and pushed it to the floor, revealing her nude body.  “tonight.” He huskily breathed out. 

“Mmm. You’re wearing too much.”  She tugged his shirt off while he quickly removed his trousers. 

“I love you, Beverly.  Please, don’t ever forget that.  I’m sorry if I’ve been neglectful. I won’t let it happen again.”

Beverly kissed him and then pulled away and pretended to pout. “You better not . If you think I’m going through the next six months alone you have got to be kidding.”

“Why six months?”  Beverly moved Jean-Luc’s hand to her abdomen.

“We’re having another baby.  I’m about twelve weeks along now.  I wanted to tell you sooner, but....”  Jean-Luc kissed her soundly.

“Another baby?”  She nodded.  “Would it be selfish if I tell you I hope we have a little girl this time?”

“Not at all, my love.  I’ve been thinking this one will be a girl, too.”

The couple made love and talked long into the night about their plans for the future.  No matter what, this little family was going to stick together.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure you're wondering why this is no longer Comfort XI. Frankly, I decided the previous Comfort IX-XI work better as a separate story/series since it diverts from canon and the rest of the comfort series doesn't.


End file.
